( MENAFN - PR Newswire) congress must act now to protect patients' health care access in the face of consecutive cuts American Academy of Dermatology President Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- "Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) again finalized cuts to the physician fee schedule for 2025 for the fifth consecutive year, further hindering patient access to care as practice expenses increase and payments decrease.
"Medicare finalized a cut of nearly 2.83% in payment for physician services in 2025. For dermatologists, the proposed Medicare cut would affect access to critical skin cancer treatment, life altering treatment for chronic inflammatory skin diseases, and so much more.
Approximately 9,500 people in the United States are diagnosed with this cancer every day. "According to the Definitive Healthcare 2023 report, over 70,000 physicians have left the health care workforce between 2020- 2022 due to several issues, including rising costs, administrative burdens, and burn out. "Since I began practicing, I have increasingly had to grow my patient volume to keep up with demand while simultaneously juggling skyrocketing overhead costs.
"These cuts to Medicare physician payments, which have occurred every single year since 2021, arise from a complex set of budgetary rules and systemic flaws in the requirements that, unless addressed, will continue to threaten physicians' ability to provide care. These include the budget-neutrality requir.
